Buckle having sliding member and roller



Aug. 3, 1965 A. s. SUSSMAN BUCKLE HAVING SLIDING MEMBER AND ROLLER 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 1, 1965 INVENTOR, Fidel [amid Sleinbe Aug. 3,1965 A. s. SUSSMAN 3,197,834

BUCKLE HAVING SLIDING MEMBER AND ROLLER Filed Feb. 1, 1963 2Sheets-Sheet 2 I N VENTOR. l olol [eerie steinlv g sussmarl M flgeyftUnited States Patent 4 Claims.

This invention relates to a buckle structure of the type that comprisesa slidable and a stationary frame or rim member, and a roller fitted atleast on one end of said stationary frame to facilitate the gliding of abelt slipped through the buckle.

. An object of this invention is to provide a sliding frame buckle whichwill be simple in structure, economical of' manufacture, durable, highlyefficient in use and simple in operation. r

The objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description of a few, preferred embodiments thereof, withreference to the accompanying drawings, given by way of not restrictiveexamples. In the drawings: i

FiGl is a perspective view of an embodiment of the buckle according tothe invention.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are a plan view and a side view respectively of the buckleslider or movable frame member as shown in the FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a buckle according to a modification ofthe buckle shown in FIG. 1.

FIGS. '5, 6 and 7 are perspective views of component parts of a buckleaccording to the invention, in an intermediate manufacturing stage.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the component parts, as shown in theFIGS. 5, 6 and 7, and assembled.

F1629 is a perspective view of the finished buckle, component parts ofwhich are shown in the FIGS. 5,. 6, 7, and 8.

FIG. 10 perspective views of disassembled component parts of anotherembodiment of the buckle according to the invention, arranged forcompleting the manufactnre of the buckle.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the finished buckle the component partsof which are shown in the FIG. 10.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the buckle consist of a base rimmember or constrained frame member 18, with a gliding roller supportedon the end portions 19 thereof, whilst the rod portion 21, opposite tosaid end portions 19, serves for the fastening of the buckle to the shoeor to an article of clothing in general, a portion of which is shown as21' in dotted lines in FIG. 1.

A second rim member or movable frame member 24 is slidably coupled withsides 22 and 23- of said base rim 1%. Said rim member 24 is providedwith a plate or cross-bar 29, located crosswise thereto, and arranged atthe curls 25 and 25, respectively, formed on the side bars 27 and 28 andproviding relative guide way portions of said rim member 24, thereby tohave said second rim 24 slidably supportedon said base rim 18. Windowsor passages 36 and 31, having sizes suitable to accommodate the belt,are defined by said plate 29 of the rim member 24 (the belt is not shownin the drawing). Moreover said plate 29 is formed with an upwardly bentedge or lip 32, acting also as a stop means with respect to the rimmember 18. Finally, the rim member 24 has a depressed end bar 33, nearthe window 349, and an elevated end bar 54, near the window 31, thedepression and elevation of said end bars 33 and 34 being considered inrespect 3,197,834 Patented Aug, 3, 1965 "Ice to the plane wherein thebase rim member 18 lies (see FIG. 1).

The operation of the above described buckle embodiment is very simple.After having fastened the buckle to the shoe, or to the clothing articleby means of a suitable fastener secured to the rod portion 21 of baserim member 18, it will be sufficient, when the buckle is to be operated,to slide the rim member 24', to the right along said base rim member 18,until the lip 32 is wholly cleared from the roller 29. Then the belt orstrap is passed firstly through said window 39, and then through theportion of window 31 over the end rod portion 21 of base rim member 18.

The pull exerted in both directions by the belt on the buckle, is suchas to constrain the rim member 24 to slide in a direction opposite tothat of its previous movement, whereby through the reaction caused bythe roller 2% the belt is pressed against the upwardly bent edge 32 ofplate 22, and a positive clamping of the belt is obtained.

It has been ascertained that good efiiciency and durability features areensured by the peculiar shape of the slider or movable frame, thatcomprises the belt clamping plate and the loop portion 34 which areintegral parts of a single piece.

Moreover, said slider represents an efficient and practical stiffenerfor said base rim member 18, by positively counter-acting possiblespreading forces which may act on the base rim at its open end, wherethe gliding roller 26 is fitted. Said stiffening action could beimproved by hardening the sides 22 and-23 of said base rim 18, so thateven any additional stiffening member may be eliminated.

A variant of the buckle represented in the FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 is shown inthe FIG. 4.

Referring now to FIG. 4, where all components that have been alreadydescribed when dealing with the FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, are marked with thesame reference numbers, the roller 2 is shaped in a particular manner,according to the cross-section of belt 35. In fact, in the presentexample, the belt 35 has a substantially hexagonal and slightlyflattened cross-section 36 and accordingly the roller 29a has asubstantially trapezoidal, or spool like profile 3'7, complemental tothat of belt 35. Similarly, the upwardly bent edge 32a of plate 29, alsohas a trapezoidal profile, complemental to the profile of roller 26a.

In practice, ithas been ascertained that the particular shape of roller243a, that can be advantageously obtained by turning a solid blank, aswell as the particular outline of edge 32a, complemental to thelongitudinal sectional form of roller 20a, results in a highly etficientclamping of belt in the buckle.

Obviously, the roller 20a and the edge 32a must always be suitablyshaped according to the cross-sectional profile of the belt, whateverthe shape of said cross-section may be. t

A process for manufacturing a belt according to the invention, will nowbe described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 11 inclusive. Such processconsists in providing a base rim member, preferably fitted with meansfor the gliding of the belt, slipping said base rim member between theupwardly bent sides, acting as guides, of a second rim member that isprovided with at least one cross member, until said two rims are atleast partly superposed, and bending upwardly at least a tongue providedon the middle section of said cross member.

With full particulars, and referring to FIGS. 5, 6,v 7, 8, and 9,accordin to the invention a wire is bent into an open rectangular shape,thereby forming the base rim member 33, and a barrel or otherwise shapedgliding roller 39 is fitted in the open end of said rim member. Then asecond rim member 43 is made. Such rim member comprises a front crossmember 41, a middle plate 42 provided with the tongue 43, and two sideguides 44 and 45 formed by upwardly bent side wings.

Finally, the buckle comprises a ring-shaped component 46, provided witha bent tongue 47 on one of its ends.

Then, according to the method of the invention, the rim member 38 isslipped between the guides 44 and 45 of the rim member 40 (FIG. 8) untilthe two rim members are superposed, whereupon the tongue 43 is bentupwardly to serve as shoulder for the roller'39, thereby defining a stopfor the rim 38 in respect to rim 40, and a clamp for the belt.

Finally the ring member 46 is fitted to the buckle, by having its tongue47 bent around the end 33' of rim 38 (see FIG. 9).

Thus the buckle is finished. The base rim 38 is allowed to make a givensliding stroke, and is prevented from falling out of the buckle by therear tongue 43, and by the tongue 47 member 46, that is retained by therim member 38, which lies in the guides 44 and 4-5 of rim 40.

In the variant as shown in the FIGS. 10 and 11, the

process according to the invention may be carried out with a rim 38a,similar to previously described rim 38, and similarly fitted with agliding roller 3%, whereupon a second rim designated 48, is arranged andcomprising upwardly bent side guides 4411-45a (similar to guides 44 and45), a front cross member 41a, a middle plate 4.2a formed with twotongues 49 and 50, and a rear cross member 51, which is slightly raisedin respect to remain ing portion of said rim 48. i The process accordingto the above variant is carried into effect by slipping the rim 38abetween the guides 44a and 45a of the rim 48, until it comes to restover the other (see FIG. 11).

Then, the tongues 49and a are bent upwardly, thereby preventing that therim 38a may come off from the rim 48. In particular, the tongue 49serves as stop for the roller 3%, and for the clamping of the belt.

As it can be readily appreciated, the above described process allows tomake buckles for belts, straps or the like in a simple and ready manner.Moreover, the possibility to have the sides of the second rim alreadyproperly bent, allows the making of buckles with very small sizes.

I claim:

1. A sliding frame buckle, comprising,

a movable frame provided with side bars,

a first end bar and a second end bar connecting said side bars, and across bar intermediate said end bars and having a lip portion upwardlyprojecting therefrom, said side bars having their edges in the form ofrelative guide ways,

a constrained frame provided with side rods, an end irod near saidsecond end bar and connecting said side rods and adapted to be fastenedto a clothing portion supporting means on the ends of said side rodsopposite to said end rod, and a roller member near said first end barand supported by said supporting means and extending transverse to saidside rods,

said movable frame having a Width exceeding the width of saidconstrained frame, said relative guideways having laterally bent wallportions outwardly shielding said side rods and surrounding at least apart of each and slidably receiving said side rods thereby to allow saidmovable frame to slide with said relative guidew-ays thereof along saidside rods from an end position to another end position thereof,

said cross-bar being arranged intermediate said end rod and said rollermember to leave a first passage for a strap portion between saidcross-bar and said roller member in an intermediate position of saidmovable frame and to clamp said strap portion between said roller memberand said cross-bar with said lip portion thereof in an end position ofsaid movable frame when said strap-portion is pulled in a directiondirected from said end rod towards said roller member.

2. A sliding frame buckle according to claim 1, wherein said movableframe has a length exceeding the length of said constrained framethereby providing a free space between said end rod and said second endbar at least in certain positions of said movable frame to provide asecond passage for a portion of said strap.

3. A sliding frame buckle according to claim 1, wherein said 'first endbar is depressed with respect to said constrained frame.

4-. A sliding frame buckle according toclaim 1, wherein saidrollermember has a shaped longitudinal section and said lip has a shapecomplemental to said longitudinal section.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 43,997 8/64Kelsey 24-178 368,529 8/37 Harris 24-195 987,576 3/11 Kerngood 24-1941,611,588 12/26 Hyde 24-171 FOREIGN PATENTS 467,052 6/37 Great Britain.653,832 5/51 Great Britain.

DONLEY J. STOCKING, Primary Examiner,

1. A SLIDING FRAME BUCKLE, COMPRISING, A MOVABLE FRAME PROVIDED WITHSIDE BARS, A FIRST END BAR AND A SECOND END BAR CONNECTING SAID SIDEBARS, AND A CROSS BAR INTERMEDIATE SAID END BARS AND HAVING A LIPPORTION UPWARDLY PROJECTING THEREFROM, SAID SIDE BARS HAVING THEIR EDGESIN THE FORM OF RELATIVE GUIDE WAYS, A CONSTRAINED FRAME PROVIDED WITHSIDE RODS, AND END ROD NEAR SAID SECOND END BAR AND CONNECTING SAID SIDERODS AND ADAPTED TO BE FASTENED TO A CLOTHING PORTION SUPPORTING MEANSON THE ENDS OF SAID SIDE RODS OPPOSITE TO SAID END ROD, AND A ROLLERMEMBER NEAR SAID FIRST END BAR AND SUPPORTED BY SAID SUPPORTING MEANSANDE EXTENDING TRANSVER TO SAID RODS, AND MOVEABLE FRAME HAVING A WIDTHEXCEEDING THE WIDTH OF SAID CONSTRAINED FRAME, SAID RELATIVE GUIDEWAYSHAVING LATERALLY BENT WALL PORTIONS OUTWARDLY SHEILDING SAID SIDE RODSAND SURROUNDING AT LEAST A PART OF EACH AND SIDABLY RECEIVING SAID SIDERODS THEREBY TO ALLOW SAID MOVABLY FRAME TO SLIDE WITH SAID RELATIVEGUIDEWAYS THEREOF ALONG SAID SIDE RODS FROM AN END POSITION TO ANOTHEREND POSITION THEREOF, SAID CROSS-BAR BEING ARRANGED TO LEAVE A FIRSTPASSAGE ROD AND SAID ROLLER MEMBER TO LEAVE A FIRST PASSAGE FOR A STRAPPORTION BETWEEN SAID CROSS-BAR AND SAID ROLLER MEMBER IN AN INTERMEDIATEPOSITION OF SAID MOVABLE FRAME AND TO CLAMP SAID STRAP PORTION BETWEENSAID ROLLER MEMBER AND SAID CROSS-BAR WITH SAID LIP PORTION THEREOF INAN END POSITION OF SAID MOVABLE FRAME WHEN SAID STRAP PORTION IS PULLEDIN A DIRECTION DIRECTED FROM SAID END ROD TOWARDS SAID ROLLER MEMBER.